TinaTurkeys PC Thread :)

[Ali]

TT may I move your post to a new thread of its own?

Also, whats your budget for the new PC?

[Tina Turkey]

Sure thing ...

about 750ish squid to include monitor

[Ali]

This will probably be all upside down now Have moved TTs questions about PCs from the Kindle thread to here.....

TinaTurkey asks............

Whilst on this techno subject ... I wonder if you could help me focus my mind re purchasing a new desktop pc. At the risk of going off subject! I am going bonkers trying to decide on a new one (my lovely father in law and donated a bit of dosh so we can buy a new one!). Its predominately for my business, I want something FAST as my old one has lost prob 5 years of my life sitting waiting for it to catch up!, general email and internet, office docs, music download, photo editing (not video editing I shouldnt imagine), want to run something like Corel for font creation, no gaming. I have looked at Dell and they have an XPS 8300 which seems quite powerful but I have read loads of reviews that the model keeps freezing which would probably finish me off as my old one does that all the time! The vostro looks good but I have read that it has not a very powerful power supply (350w) which can cause problems (what do i know!) ... also Dell have been dreadful at asking questions - no one speaks english and dont seem to have a clue whats what. I checked out reviews on PCAdvisor, Computer Active, PC Pro etc etc and they are all giving good marks to a company called Chillblast. Spoke to them got great advice and they helped me configure a great PC for my needs. There is also PC SPecialist who do a similar set up - however it worries me that these small independent companies dont have the clout of Dell and you run the risk of the company going bust etc, especially in today's climate.
So, what to do? Do you have any suggestions of good suppliers? Again I can have it shipped to Jersey or to France but I need an english OS and keyboard.
I am looking at something like i3, i5 CPU, min 4GB RAM and 1TB hardrive (possibly SSD), USB 2 and 3.0 slots, WIndows 7 64 Professional or Ultimate (not home premium), not sure about whether I need graphics card or sound card?, good monitor but not huge.
What about HP or Toshiba? Where is the best place to buy with good after sales support?
Sorry for questions!
TTx

[Ali]

£750 is a brill budget for a windows based PC !!!

Subject of which PC is a huge one and it is very much personal taste/choice/budget etc

Personally I'd go for something 'off the shelf'

This is what I'm using here:

Screen: Samsung syncmaster P2250 (1080p widescreen / 2ms refresh)

I find the screen fantastic to work with. With Windows 7 you can stand the screen in portrait so that if you're working on 'long' documents you get much more space to work with.

Equally in 'normal' landscape for normal work and watching filums is great.

1080p in my view gives you the best screen display for everything (currently) and is HD (If you want to overload on screen detail here you go an explanation: www.hdtvtest.co.uk/Article/Why-We-Love-1080p.php)

LCD screens - HD with backlit LED are fantastic for viewing movies etc

The faster the refresh rate (mine is 2ms) the less 'flicker' (although most flat screens are extremely steady anyway)

I haven't gone for a touch screen because I'd end up getting finger marks on it I reckon, plus all my work is using a keyboard and mouse.

For your screen also consider whether you want speakers built into it. Personally I have, and far prefer, a surround sound system so don't have built in speakers. I find built in speakers to be tinny.

The PC I'm using is a Packard Bell iXtreme M3730. Intel quad processor @ 2.50Ghz, RAM 4.00Gb, 64-bit op sysy and disk size of 1,000 Gb (1 terrabyte - of which I have only used 342 Gb !! 1/3.)

Down side to 64-bit op sys is that you may have to replace older peripherals such as printers/scanners etc. When loading windows you can use the 32-bit option anyway.

I use Windows 7 Home Premium. In addition I bought Office 2010 which is gorgeous

PC mem card slots:

Micro SD (I think Micro SD is v important and becoming more so - mob phones/gps/notepads all use them) (Must have)

Normal SD/MMC slot (use all of the time! Cameras etc) (Must have)

xD & CF slots (which I never use)
MS/MS Pro slot (rarely use)

USB slots at the front are extremely handy (2 on mine)
USB slots at the rear - go for anything above 4

Ethernet ports at rear (needed)

Built in WiFi (Its a must have for me)
Of course DVD/CD reader AND writer
Blu-Ray (Optional)

Without a sound and graphics card you won't see or hear anything Most are built onto the motherboard anyway.

HDMI as well as VGA ports pretty essential in my view.

Speaker and microphone ports are pretty std stuff anyway.

Its always nice to know that there is a spare slot for another card inside the PC too just in case you want to add something else. For example I put an iLink (Firewire) card into a spare PCI slot because my old video camera can cannect to that.

Mouse and keyboard
My own preference is for wired, not wireless mouse and full size keyboard for normal work. Got fed up with having the replace the batteries all the time in the wireless mouse in particular. Although it is great to be able to move right away from the PC screen and work from a distance sometimes. I will be setting up wireless in the kitchen so I don't have to keep walking over to the lappy (at some point)

Can't think of much else for now.... when you pop over for your bottles come play with this PC in the office here. (All bought from PC World UK btw on account of it was easier )

BUT all of the above is my view only and I'm no expert at all.

Looking forward to seeing comments on this thread (especially from Apple users ;D)

[lib]

And there's me thinking I'm splashing out for a client with Philips 21" flatscreens 1920 + resoloution @ £72 and a bunch of 'refurbished' Fujitsu PC boxes at £274 each.
HHmmmmmmm

[Colly]

Just to add my observation, most decent graphic cards have 2 monitor outputs on them, by hooking up a second screen you can drag a program to it and be working on a separate on on the other screen so having a single full sized program running on each screen.

I actually have my second output hooked into a projector so was able to see Jenson Button on the F1 grand prix on a 7 foot screen and still deal with some emails on the computer

[Ali]

Oct 12, 2011 14:29:22 GMT 1 Colly said:

Just to add my observation, most decent graphic cards have 2 monitor outputs on them, by hooking up a second screen you can drag a program to it and be working on a separate on on the other screen so having a single full sized program running on each screen.

I actually have my second output hooked into a projector so was able to see Jenson Button on the F1 grand prix on a 7 foot screen and still deal with some emails on the computer

Now that is an idea !! Going to get on hands n knees later to see what's at the back of the office PC.

[Elkay]

And there was me thinking it was a thread about Political Correctness

[Tina Turkey]

Thanks - Ali you lovely woman - great detail!

I am pondering wehther to get a laptop coz we are going to be moving my office to other rooms etc soon but I hear that laptops just arent as good as desktops unless you are spending mega bucks.

I was pondering whether to get a desktop for say £500-£600 and then spend the rest on a netbook for googling around the place and a good printer coz mines had it.

Would be interested what peeps think about laptops.

[BartyB]

You can get a stonking good lappy for £600 search eBayUK for "i7 laptop" and if you should have enough in the kitty for some extra whizzy bits and bobs.

If you have a flying desktop and a netbook you'll find the netbook almost unbarabley slow.